Dall'aria lunare, questa è la piramide sommitale del Piz Lunghin, in Engadina, Svizzera, subito sopra il Passo del Maloja. Una vetta tanto facile quanto spettacolare, che gode di una vista unica sul Lago di Lej e sulle vette bianche del gruppo del Bernina.

With its lunar look, this is the summit pyramid of Piz Lunghin, in the Engadine, Switzerland, just above the Maloja Pass. A summit as easy as it is spectacular, with a unique view of the Lago di Lej and the white peaks of the Bernina group.

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20 hikes

Summit hikes

A selection of iconic summits and peaks in the Alps, for those with a fetish for reaching the top.

If the appeal of a mountain hut lies in finding comfort in the warmth and chatter of a house in the middle of otherwise untouched and potentially hostile nature, the appeal of a summit is one of conquest, of reaching a maximum. It is the satisfaction of having reached the highest point, knowing we could not have gone any further. No surprise, then, that so many summits are “decorated” with crosses, obelisks or statues to mark their symbolic importance. And although these symbols are starting to seem too religious and branded for a place as secular and natural as the top of a mountain, these Christian symbols have become the very symbol of the summit, and if they were gone we would almost miss them.

Religious debates aside, the hikes in this section are a hymn to the peaks (more or less pointed) of the Alps, to their crosses, and to the incredible views they give us.

It is best to save these hikes for the clearest days, with low humidity and swept by cold northerly winds, to make the most of good visibility and to be able to see peaks tens or hundreds of kilometres away.

Good to know about summits

Some of these summits have a longer climbing history than you might think. The Zugspitze received its first documented ascent on 27 August 1820 from the Bavarian surveyor Josef Naus, with an assistant and a guide; the Resegone owes its name to resega, Lombard dialect for saw, and Manzoni describes it in just those terms in the opening lines of I promessi sposi. Other summits have become easy to reach by train: the rack railway from Glion to the Rochers de Naye has run since 1892, and the link from Montreux since 1909, so at the top we will rarely be alone. From Piz Lunghin, finally, you look over one of Europe's rare triple watersheds, where the waters divide between the Rhine, the Po and the Danube.

Many summit routes are graded EE, for experienced hikers: according to the CAI this means there may be exposed sections, steep slopes or snowfields to cross, and that you need sure footing, a head for heights and suitable equipment. When you move up a grade, to EEA or to a via ferrata like the one on the Zugspitze, you need a harness meeting EN 12277, a helmet meeting EN 12492 and a via ferrata set with an energy absorber meeting EN 958. The grade always refers to the hardest section, which on a summit often means the final metres, exactly where you arrive most tired and most exposed to the weather.